We are celebrating the High Holidays and the start of a new Jewish year. Let’s explore how these occasions link us to the Land of Israel.

1. On Rosh Hashanah, what foods, most of which are native to Israel, have come to symbolize fertility and good fortune?

2. What three Jewish holidays coincide with different harvests in Israel?

3. On which holiday do Jews begin to pray for rain for the year?

4. What is a “Shabbat for Hashem”?

5. How do Jewish holidays connect us to the land?

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ANSWERS:

1. Pomegranates, dates, honey, heads of lettuce and of fish

2. Sukkot marks the end of fruit harvesting and the agricultural year; Passover signifies the barley harvest; and Shavuot coincides with the wheat harvest

3. Shemini Atzeret

4. Shmittah, the sabbatical year. The Torah calls for Jews to work the land for six years and let it rest on the seventh. This new year on the Hebrew calendar—5782—is a shmittah year.

5. Jewish holidays, which are celebrated according to the lunar Hebrew calendar, most often coincide with agricultural cycles in the Land of Israel.

Now you know…about holidays and the Land of Israel!